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Examining Recall Memory in Infancy and Early Childhood Using the Elicited Imitation Paradigm
Published on: April 28, 2016
Spatial location memory discriminates children born at extremely low birth weight and late-preterm at age three
Ida Sue Baron1, Kristine Erickson, Margot D Ahronovich
1Departmentof Pediatrics and Fairfax Neonatal Associates, Inova Fairfax Hospital forChildren, Falls Church, VA 22042, USA. ida@isbaron.com
Insights
Children born extremely low birth weight (ELBW) show impaired spatial location learning. A modified Hopkins Board identified these deficits in at-risk premature children, suggesting its use for assessing neurodevelopmental maturation.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Pediatrics
Background:
- Spatial location memory is crucial for preschool development.
- Few studies have assessed spatial memory in preterm children due to measurement limitations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate spatial location memory in preschool-aged children born extremely low birth weight (ELBW), late-preterm (LPT), and term (TERM).
- To evaluate the efficacy of a modified Hopkins Board in identifying developmental differences.
Main Methods:
- A modified Hopkins Board was administered to 135 three-year-olds (20 ELBW, 75 LPT, 40 TERM).
- Measures included naming, trials-to-criterion, errors-to-criterion, delayed item recall, and delayed location recall.
Main Results:
- ELBW children performed significantly worse in naming, errors-to-criterion, and delayed item recall compared to LPT and TERM groups.
- Spatial location learning across trials was significant in LPT and TERM groups but not in the ELBW group.
- Deficits in ELBW participants persisted after controlling for corrected age and sociodemographic factors.
Conclusions:
- Extremely low birth weight (ELBW) is a significant risk factor for impaired spatial location learning.
- The modified Hopkins Board effectively identifies at-risk premature children.
- This tool shows potential for broader use in assessing neurodevelopmental maturation in preschoolers.
Objective:
The spatial location memory of preschool-aged children born preterm has rarely been studied primarily due to an absence of developmentally sensitive measures. This study aimed to address this gap in the literature.
Method:
We administered a modification of the Hopkins Board to 135 children at age 3 who were born extremely low birth weight (ELBW) (n = 20), late-preterm (LPT) (n = 75), or at term (TERM) (n = 40). Five measures were obtained: naming, trials-to-criterion, errors-to-criterion, delayed item recall, and delayed location recall.
Results:
ANCOVA indicated that the groups differed in naming (p = .019), errors-to-criterion (p = .002), and delayed item recall (p = .025). For these measures, ELBW performed worse than TERM and LPT, but LPT did not differ from TERM. Corrected age and sociodemographic factors did not eliminate the deficit in spatial location learning for ELBW participants. A MANCOVA found a significant difference in learning, with post hoc tests indicating significant learning across trials in the LPT and TERM groups, but not in the ELBW group.
Conclusions:
ELBW is a significant risk factor for developmental delay or impairment of spatial location learning. These findings suggest that the modified Hopkins Board identifies at-risk premature children. This modification may be more broadly useful to assess preschoolers' neurodevelopmental maturation.
